Nepal occupies 35th position in the ranking of failing states

A recent study by Foreign Policy, a journal of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Fund for Peace, has placed Nepal in 35th position out of 60 states surveyed for the purpose of identifying failed or failing states.

In South Asia, Afghanistan is in a critical state and occupies 11th slot while Bangladesh has been ranked 17. Myanmar and Bhutan have been allotted the 23rd and 26th positions respectively while Pakistan occupies the 34th position—only a slot higher than that occupied by Nepal.

The failed states index ranks countries on 12 economic, social and political parameters and include demographic pressures, refugees and displaced people, group grievances, human exodus, uneven development, economic decline, delegitimisation of states, public services, human rights, security apparatus, factionalised elites and external intervention, reports said.

The study argues that the danger of failing or failed states is now at the centre of global politics. The US National Security Strategy of 2002 clearly laid down the threats to America’s security. “America is less threatened by conquering states than failing ones.’’

Failed states export unsavoury elements, including terrorists, large-scale immigrants, drugs and weapons. In South Asia, one can see varying levels of this problem. For example, Nepal “sliding into chaos’’ means migrants will come to India, creating economic and social pressure in the country’s border areas.

Bangladesh sinking into Islamic fundamentalism will put pressure on India’s fragile north-eastern states. Instability, the study says, has many faces, while internal conflict can take virulent forms as in countries like Somalia and Ivory Coast or Afghanistan where drugs, terrorism and external intervention make a deadly cocktail.

The study has placed Egypt at 38th position, Saudi Arabia at 45 and Russia at 59. ”The geography of weak states reveals a territorial expanse that extends from Moscow to Mexico City, the study said. nepalnews.com by Aug 25 05